Parking a vehicle properly can be difficult at times. Parallel parking especially poses challenges to many drivers when, for example, the parking space is small or other conditions such has curb variations, adverse weather, moving obstacles, grade variations, etc. exist. Other parking maneuvers, such as 90 degree back up parking, often present similar challenges to drivers.
Recently, parking assist systems have been developed to assist drivers in these tasks. The developed systems have focused on either (a) controlling the motion of the steering wheel while control of braking and acceleration is left to the driver, (b) providing audial/visual guidance to the driver regarding motion of the steering wheel, or (c) controlling the motion of the steering wheel as well as controlling braking and acceleration of the vehicle. Options (a) and (c), by removing some or all control from the drivers during parking maneuvers, require very robust systems that can compensate for all of the potential variations in the parking situation such as those listed above. Current systems of this type have a narrow range of operability and/or only function within large parking areas. Furthermore, acceptance of systems that entirely remove control of the vehicle from the driver, as in option (c), may be difficult because of potential liability issues.
Option (b) leaves control of the vehicle with the driver, but the driver must process the audial/visual cues and convert those cues into motion of the steering wheel. Further, visual cues displayed forward of the driver, for example, on the dashboard, seem contradictory to the premise of the driver remaining in control while driving the vehicle backward.